The direction of the Hospital de Clínicas initiated an administrative investigation due to the entry of a forensic doctor into the building and the room where the former Tupamaro Jorge Zabalza was hospitalized, who died hours after the visit, as reported to The Observer the director of the Álvaro Villar hospital.
Villar indicated that, with the information they have so far, the doctor came to greet Zabalza in a short-term meeting. Despite the fact that the investigation began the day after the death, after a complaint from the former Tupamaro’s partner, Villar affirmed that there is nothing suspicious and that it is common for a doctor to visit any patient if he presents his credentials.
This Thursday, the channel 12 program, Informal Breakfastsreported having received letters from Verónika Engler and Henry Engler, partner and father-in-law respectively of the late Jorge Zabalza. The texts took up the complaints about the treatment that the former Tupamaro received at the Hospital de Clínicas, prior to his death on February 23. According to the family, there “lack of coordination”, “lack of empathy” and “malpractice” in the performance of the university hospital.
The director of the center had visited the aforementioned program on March 16. There he referred to an article in the weekly Gap, where Verónika Engler denounced that her partner had died in a state of malnutrition and lack of medical attention. Villar, then, affirmed that Zabalza had “advanced cancer” and that the way that that disease leads the person to death is “affecting all functions, including the ability to nurture and feed”. “But what There was no lack of medical care or nursing at any time; nor were there situations of abandonment“, he assured.
In the letter that Informal Breakfasts cited this Friday, Henry Engler stated: “The director (Villar) says that he died of cancer. He did not say that he died of starvation, lack of food, skeletal. He did not say that they were decisive in the outcome: the lack of coordination, lack of empathy, malpractice and the collaboration of bacteria acquired in health centers and of covid acquired in the Clinics”
According to a document from the Committee for the Prevention and Control of Hospital Infections, sent by Zabalza’s father-in-law, the now deceased had contracted a resistant bacterium that had colonized his rectum. According to Engler: “there it is made very clear that they must put it in a room with its own bathroom and shower, and materials for exclusive use”. Something that did not happen. Instead, they took him to a shared room where he contracted the coronavirus, the family says.
“It is very clear to me that this serious error is not coming from the Prevention Committee, but from the Directorate of the Clinics,” added Engler, who is also a doctor.
After testing positive, Zabalza was transferred to a covid room. Verónika Engler was not informed of this transfer, according to consigned in march Gap. There was no bell in the room, so the boarding school could not ask for attention or help from the nurses; Instead, he had to resort to contacting his partner and his father-in-law by cell phone.
However, the fact that caused a complaint by the couple was the visit of a forensic doctor the night before Zabalza’s death. He presented his credentials at the hospital, so he was allowed to enter the building and the room where the former Tupamaro was. As Álvaro Villar declared to The Observerthere is nothing strange in which a doctor is allowed to see a patient if he presents his credentials.
Anyway, The day after her death, an administrative investigation was launched into Verónika Engler’s complaint.. Although it is still ongoing and we have to wait until it is finished to determine the identification and motives of that forensic doctor, the director of the Clinics said that the doctor’s entrance to the room where Zabalza was was seen by cameras. As far as they know, added Villar, the man went to greet the patient, in a short-lived meeting.
